The rumor that Napoleon (1769 – 1821), exiled to the Atlantic island of St. Helena, fell victim to an insidious poison murder has long persisted. A posthumous examination of the Corsican’s hair substantiated the suspicion of a murder plot – its extremely high arsenic content could have brought down an elephant. New laboratory analyses, however, recently steered speculation about the arsenic theory in a completely different direction. Napoleon was not a poisoning victim, but most likely succumbed to stomach cancer at the age of 51.
Arsenic: poison and preservative
Arsenic was used in the 19th century to preserve leather, hides and hair. And also the “relics”, i.e. the imperial hair, are said to have been treated with arsenic in order to save them from decay. This assumption is supported by the fact that hair from different periods of Napoleon’s life was preserved and analyzed – with astounding results! The relatively uniform concentration of the poison on all hair samples suggests that Napoleon did not ingest the arsenic orally (through food or stimulants), but that it was applied externally – most likely after his death – for preservation purposes.
Opponents of this theory, however, cite the lack of DNA analysis, as certain proof of authenticity. If this is true, the hair could have come from God knows which mop of hair.
